This was last spring, when Florence told Sporting News that Baylor—without Robert Griffin III—had the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 and was bound for another outstanding season. That was news to many fans out there, some of whom may have been under the impression that Bears football would simply fold up shop post-RG3.

A joke, that last part, but who among us wasn’t surprised by how ridiculously good the Bears were by the end of 2012? A little over a month after humiliating unbeaten Kansas State by four touchdowns, they made a mockery of UCLA’s resurgence in a 49-26 Holiday Bowl rout. Baylor finished with eight wins, the nation’s No. 2-ranked offense and a fifth-year senior QB who looked really smart.

Which brings us to another thing Florence said last offseason: that both he and RG3 believe Bryce Petty has Heisman Trophy potential.

Wait a minute. Bryce who?

Petty is next man up for Art Briles’ Bears. Although Briles and his staff are making Petty earn the starting job—spring ball in Waco began last Friday—the writing has been on the wall for a while now.

“He’s got a great arm,” offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery says. “Physically, he’s a big ol’ strong kid—he’s all rocked up. He can run around a little bit. He has all the physical traits.”

The 6-3, 235-pounder—much bigger than Florence or Griffin—has two seasons of eligibility remaining, and that might be plenty of time to be a part of Baylor’s first Big 12 championship and its first conference title since 1980, when it was a Southwest Conference school.

“We think we certainly have the potential to win the Big 12 championship—without question,” Briles says.

Oh, is that nuts, too? It has become so much harder, though, to doubt the Bears.

FROM THE WING-T TO FLINGING IT

Griffin had Kendall Wright. Florence had Terrance Williams.

Petty has Tevin Reese, who has 149 catches for 2,235 yards and 16 touchdowns in three seasons as the No. 2 or 3 receiver. Reese is small (5-10, 168), but he’s one of the fastest players in the land, with a personal-best 4.32 laser-timed 40-yard dash.

“He definitely provides a weapon that not many people have,” Petty says. “It’s hard for a defense to deal with someone who’s as fast as he is, and he’s got the hands to go with it. He’s not just a track athlete who plays football—he’s a football player with track speed.”

There was a time when no one would’ve seen either Petty or Reese as a potential No. 1 guy at the major-college level.

Before moving from Arkansas to Texas prior to 10th grade, Petty cut his teeth as a quarterback over three years in a wing-T offense. “Hand the ball right, hand the ball left—three yards and a cloud of dust,” he says with a laugh. “I really didn’t know anything about passing.”

Reese’s situation—likewise in a wing-T offense—was more comical. In the Temple, Texas, program that featured current Bears running back Lache Seastrunk, he was a split receiver who lined up with his hand in the dirt.

“Basically, I was a 140-pound tight end coming out of high school,” Reese says.

He’s all about big plays downfield now, as UCLA learned the hard way when Florence and Reese hooked up on a touchdown bomb. Fourteen of Reese’s 16 career scores have covered at least 40 yards.

“And his role will only have to increase,” Montgomery says.

Petty has the arm to throw him open. If you’re like every other human on the planet, at some point you’ve seen RG3 uncork a deep ball and been surprised—shocked, even—by his arm strength. Well, don’t think Baylor’s quarterbacks haven’t had long-throw contests. They have, and Petty was the BAOC.

MORE NUTTY TALK

Baylor’s players break every huddle in spring ball as they did throughout winter conditioning: “One, two, three—Big 12 champs!”

They’re simply convinced the time has come, and what’s so crazy about that? If there’s a conference that’s impossible to forecast in 2013, it’s this one. Defending champion Kansas State moves on without Collin Klein, Oklahoma does likewise without Landry Jones, Texas continues to be unpredictable, and so on. Many seem to be high on Oklahoma State and TCU. Again, why not Baylor, too?

“The Big 12 is wide-open,” Petty says, “more so than ever, really. There’s no kind of distinct No. 1, and that’s exactly the position we want to be in.

“We know that we can win the Big 12. We know that we can go to the BCS. We know that we can win the national championship. There really is no doubt.”

Not with the Bears, that is. Is Petty going a bit overboard? Perhaps. But it’s precisely that sort of unabashed belief that went a long way for Florence with teammates who may themselves have wondered how life would be after RG3.

“Guys fought for him and with him,” Montgomery says of Florence. “He had that knack.”

Petty has it, too, though it took awhile to fully develop. When Florence won the starting job last year, Petty was almost crushed. In truth, he wore the disappointment on his face for longer than he wanted to. Did he think about transferring? Not even for a moment. He managed to come out the other side a better player and leader.

“Especially in this day and age,” he says, “you’ve got a lot of kids who, if they don’t get what they want right away, they leave. I don’t think that helps you become a better person off the field.

“Football doesn’t last forever. You want to have a family and kids someday, and you want to instill the right things in your kids. You have to work hard for things. Sometimes, you have to wait. It’s about becoming a man here.”